Alyssa Ayres (left), senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations, and Daniel Twining, director and senior fellow, Asia Program, the German Marshall Fund of the United States speaking at the HT Summit on Saturday. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/ Mint

New Delhi: It’s early to speculate what the presidency of new US President-elect Donald Trump would mean for India but he is definitely interested in India, opined experts at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2016 while highlighting that it was for the first time that a presidential candidate recorded an advertisement in Hindi during his campaign. The experts also opined that Trump is aware about India being a huge market.

“There is a misunderstanding in India about US military’s relationship with Pakistan. The US military has become much harder on Pakistan since they have lost colleagues to Pakistan-sponsored elements and much warmer on India,” said Daniel Twining, director and senior fellow, Asia Program, the German Marshall Fund of the United States while speaking at the summit here on The New US President and South Asia.

“Trump is going to be harder on India and India is a vigorous economy that looks like a winner in the global economy. Donald Trump will be harder on China; going to pursue a defence buildup,” he added.

“Donald Trump has promised to hike defence spending. This will help the US to cooperate better with countries like India,” Twining further said. Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations said it is hard to predict the effects of Trump’s immigration policy on India.

“US in history never had a Presidential candidate who had recorded an ad in Hindi. He is interested in India. Trump is aware of India as a huge market. I think India is likely to be an important component,” said Ayres who had served in the US administration as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia.

On Donald Trump’s agenda for first 100 days, Twining said, “You will see a big push for tax reforms and infrastructure investments”. “Donald Trump’s pivots seem to have shifted slowly, including his viewpoint on the Clintons,” Ayres added.

Since Trump’s win last month, governments across the world are busy figuring out how their relations with US will be impacted once the new US President assumes office as he has no experience serving in government. But both Ayres and Twining were of the opinion that policies of President Trump could be well different from the rhetoric during the campaign.